Freedom of Information ('FoI')

Freedom of Information ('FoI')

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 is legislation that grants the public a right to request access to information from the University. You have 20 days to respond to an 'FoI' request.

Another relevant piece of legislation is the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 ('EISR'). The 20 working days' response time for EISR can be extended to 40 days for complex requests involving a large volume of material.

These regulations include a number of exemptions which allow information to be withheld where appropriate. However, you could be required to release information about your teaching and research based on FoI and EISR requests.

A FoI request simply has to be in a permanently recorded format, give the name of the requester and an address for correspondence, and specify the information requested. It does not have to mention Freedom of Information.

'Permanently recorded format' can mean hard copy, email, or even an audio or video recording. EISR requests can be made verbally, and also don’t have to mention the regulations.